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The Skinny on Rachel Zoe

The second season of ‘The Rachel Zoe Project’ comes to Bravo tonight at 10pm, and no one is more excited than fashionistas and Zoe enthusiasts everywhere.

This season, the series will tackle part two of Brad and Taylor’s incessant fighting – did they make up or break up after the first season?

The show will also touch upon another sore subject for Rachel – her super skinny frame, which is the source for much tabloid fodder (One past rumor had the stylist using diet pills from Mexico and handing them out to her clients).

Rachel chatted about these touchy issues during a call last week. Read on for her thoughts.

Are people repeating back the catch phrases you made popular last season?
From complete strangers on the street to toll booth operators to, you know – yeah. It’s pretty crazy and kind of embarrassing because I – you know, I get – I get in such a fit of excitement when I’m worked up about something and these silly things come out of my mouth that I really don’t have control over and then I’m just oh boy. Did I really say that? You know, did I really just use a fruit as a description of being excited. You know. So it’s embarrassing but I’ve had to kind of deal with it for the last year.

You have come under scrutiny in the past for having clients that are supposedly too skinny.
Well it’s really funny because none of my clients are actually size zero, which is kind of hilarious about the whole thing. I mean not one of my clients out of the 10 women I work with right are size zero. Not one.

How about the scrutiny you have come under for your own weight? That will be featured on the show this season?
I mean listen, I would have hoped that it would have been put to rest, you know, years ago. But I think what happens is, you know, the cameras are rolling and I’m in a – I’m in a – I’m having kind of a moment and a moment of sadness and frustration and the cameras are going and I can’t really turn around and say stop.

So, you know, I don’t – I don’t – it address it in that – in that we talk about it when I’m having, you know, I don’t want to say a meltdown but when I’m just having a rough time about…you know, false things that the media is saying and just kind of the frustrations that come with that. And, you know, my friends happen to be around me at that time and trying to get me through it and, you know, and I try and, you know, ignore it to a point. And then you say okay, well, you know, if I handle this this way then maybe it’ll prevent more drama and more scandal and more talk about it.

So, you know, you kind of don’t want to let it get the best of you and control your thoughts and then the other part is, you know, do you just kind of – I don’t want to say embrace it, but just kind of do something to kind of not bring attention to it.

What did you learn from doing the first season?
You know, I think it’s like anything else in your life. Like you do something once and you sort of learn what works and what doesn’t work and mistakes you made the first time around, you do everything in your power to not make them again. You know, so I think it’s just hopefully getting better through experience I guess.

What role does Taylor and Brad’s fighting play in the season?
I don’t think it’s as much a part as last season probably. I think – I think Brad and Taylor both kind of grow as people. Of course they have their problems like they always do. But I think it’s – you know, there’s a lot more material and storylines in this – in this season that happen just naturally. You know, kind – we didn’t plan it. It just happened. So yeah. I mean it’s definitely a part of it and she is the foundation. And – but there’s always going to be cracks in the foundation. You know.

What’s been the most difficult fight between your assistants?
Oh, I mean you probably saw it last season I mean in the end. You know, when Brad broke down and Taylor broke down. They both wanted to quit. I had to be like the mother hen plus I had to be like mediator plus I just try not to lose my whole staff. You know, so I think that was probably the biggest blow out I’ve ever had for sure, certainly in my working life.

What about people’s negative perception of you? Is the show helping?
It’s a bit ironic because I think that when I decided to do the show one of my apprehensions was oh, this is going to get people more fueled to like say nasty things about me and whatever. And in fact I think what happened is I really was just myself and then I think people actually made an accurate judgment about me.

Whether they like me or not, I think that at least if they watch the show they can make, you know, a very real – form a real opinion of who I am because it is who I am. I don’t wear two hats from my personal life and my professional life or on the show.

You know, so who you see on the show is exactly who I am for better or for worse. So I think people really got the true insight into who I am and what I do. And so I think that if the public opinion, you know, turned a bit for the better, I mean I think that’s great. You know, it wasn’t my intention but I mean it makes me happy because they’re like oh well, wait, she’s a normal person and she’s nice and she loves her family and her team and all of that. So, you know, it’s just who I am. It’s really just who I am. I wish I could say I was two different people but I’m not.

It seems that this season will feature more designers and bigger names.
Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, you know, for me and I’ve always said this from the beginning, the designers are my heroes. They’re my celebrities. So like for me, you know, standing there talking to Karl Lagerfeld or Christian Lacroix of whatever, I mean I’m like a 16-year-old teenager. Even though if I’ve met them several times before, it’s just each time is like the first time.

And it’s really important for me to take the viewer into that – into that world, into that fantasy world and have them kind of see them up close and personal, you know. That’s very important for me; huge priority going to Paris is a huge, huge priority for me.

Have producers wanted to place something in an episode that you didn’t quite agree with?
Not really. I mean not really because we pretty much shoot, you know what actually happens. So there isn’t too much to change. I mean, you know, of course in my weaker moments I’m like I don’t want to put that in and then I kind of…struggle with it and then I’m like, you know what, that’s just – that’s just what it is. And, you know, I don’t want people to have this false idea of like oh she never gets stressed or oh she never gets nervous or oh she can handle everything because the truth is I can’t.

What are women wearing now that you think they shouldn’t be wearing?
My personal biggest fashion mistake? Oh God. I would say the 80s. The 80s was the worst. You know, at the time I thought it looked great. But, you know…Oh God. Just make huge, really big hair, you know, midriff showing all the time. My dresses were so short and then I would wear like acid washed jeans and oh God. I mean it was, you know, technically the style at the time. But wow do I look back and be like what was I thinking. Why didn’t anyone stop me? How did my parents let me out of the house?

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.